The first three local players have secured their places at next month’s US Amateur at The Country Club and Charles River Country Club.

John Gratton and Ben Balter, both of Wellesley, and Will McLaughlin of Bedford, N.H., were the three to advance from Monday’s sectional qualifier at Weston Golf Club. Gratton (74-72) was medalist, followed by McLaughlin (73-75) and Balter (76-74), who earned the final spot in a four-man playoff.

The next two sectional qualifiers in our area are scheduled for Monday, at Vesper Country Club and Metacomet Country Club.

There’s also a Tuesday sectional at Crestview Country Club, with the final area qualifier July 30 at Cape Cod National. The US Amateur is Aug. 12-18, and tickets are available at www.2013usamateur.com.

Walker team unveiled

Five of the players who are expected to be in the field at the US Amateur were named Wednesday to the US Walker Cup team. Max Homa
(Valencia, Calif.), Michael Kim (Del Mar, Calif.), Patrick Rodgers (Avon, Ind.), Justin Thomas (Goshen, Ky.), and Cory Whitsett (Houston) are the first five selections for the team that will host Great Britain & Ireland on Sept. 7-8 at National Golf Links of America in Southampton, N.Y. All five are college standouts: Homa and Kim were teammates at California, Thomas and Whitsett play at Alabama, and Rodgers goes to Stanford. The final five team members will be announced after the US Amateur . . . Megan Khang of Rockland was the medalist at a US Women’s Amateur qualifier at Oak Hill Country Club in Fitchburg Tuesday, shooting a 69 to earn one of three spots into the national tournament, which is Aug. 5-11 at the Country Club of Charleston (S.C.). The other two spots went to Maria Fassi
of Mexico and Tatiana Wijaya of Indonesia, both of whom shot 72.

Scott Stallings
has Phil Mickelson to thank for the Worcester native’s debut appearance in this week’s British Open. Stallings, who now lives in Tennessee, had been the first alternate for the season’s third major championship, but the tournament held two spots open, for the winners of the European Tour event (Scottish Open) and PGA Tour stop (John Deere Classic). Because Mickelson was already exempt, a spot for Stallings opened up when Mickelson won the Scottish in a playoff. It does come with a small downside, though. Stallings won last year’s Sanderson Farms Championship, the PGA Tour event held opposite the British, and won’t have the opportunity to defend his title . . . The Northeast Delta Dental International, part of the developmental Symetra Tour, will be Friday-Sunday at Beaver Meadow Golf Course in Concord, N.H. The field for the tournament will have a New England flavor, with Molly Aronson (Shelburne, Vt.), Jaclyn Sweeney (Andover), Briana Vega (Andover), and amateur Isabel Southard (Sharon) scheduled to compete . . . Hopkinton’s Jon Curran broke 70 all four rounds (67-68-68-69), but that was good for only a tie for 39th at the Utah Championship in his season debut on the Web.com Tour. Fran Quinn of Holden and Jim Renner of Plainville tied for 21st, while Rob Oppenheim of Andover tied for 30th . . . Andrew Morse of West Roxbury tied for 50th in last week’s US Senior Open at Omaha (Neb.) Country Club, shooting 74-70-70-74 to earn $8,156. Don Reycroft of Norfolk missed the cut, shooting a pair of 79s.

Drohen smothered

Andy Drohen of Granville ran into a buzzsaw on Wednesday, losing his first-round match at the US Amateur Public Links Championship to Austin Smotherman
of Loomis, Calif., 6 and 4, at Laurel Hill Golf Club in Lorton, Va. Drohen had stroke-play rounds of 69-74 to earn the 48th seed among the 64 match-play qualifiers, but Smotherman was 6 under for 14 holes, and ended the match with four consecutive birdies. Other locals who played but failed to advance to match play included Herbie Aikens of Pembroke (73-73), Chelso Barrett of Keene, N.H. (70-77), and Nick Pandelena of Atkinson, N.H. (71-78) . . .
Matt Parziale of Thorny Lea Golf Club and Billy Walthouse of Longmeadow Country Club begin the third and final round of the New England Amateur trailing leader Evan Russell (Country Club of Vermont) by two strokes. Parziale (67-69) and Walthouse (67-69) are tied at 6-under par. Russell (68-66) bogeyed his final two holes at Green Mountain National Golf Course, but will still take a lead into Thursday’s final round. Colin Brennan (72-69) of Indian Ridge Country Club is tied for sixth . . . Steven DiLisio (71-75) of Swampscott was tied for seventh through two rounds at the AJGA Junior at Tedesco, the leading player from Massachusetts. The boys division was being led by Conor Rodrigues (70-70) of Kingston, Ontario, and Ian Kelsey (69-71) of Deerfield, Ill. In the girls’ division, Chloe Corriveau (71-74) of Pebble Beach, Calif., was in the lead by two strokes, with Sophie DiPetrillo (77-70) of Dover, Mass., tied for second. The final round is Thursday . . . Steve Demmer of the Kittansett Club and Rick Karbowski of Auburn Driving Range teamed up to shoot a 64 at Pleasant Valley Country Club and win the New England PGA Senior-Junior Championship . . . The Glen Ellen Country Club team of Janice Novak, Jo Dudek, Rita Bedard, and Elizabeth Derwin won the Dolly Sullivan tournament at Cyprian Keyes by three strokes, shooting a 70 . . . David Schafer shot a 75 at Haverhill Country Club to earn low gross honors at a Tour of Greater Boston event. Bill Feingold of Lynnfield won low net with a 64 . . . In a Tour of Greater Boston tournament at the Ranch Golf Club, Gerry Dickhaut
of Waltham shot 74 to take low gross, while John Allain’s best round ever, an 81, gave him a 59 for low net . . . Another personal low round, this one by Lenny Girouard of Tewksbury, gave him a net 60 at the Tour of Greater Boston tournament at Red Tail Golf Club. Tony Battelle of Brookline had a 75 for low gross . . . Amateur Jim Drohen’s 71 at Ipswich Country Club won low gross at the New England Golf Tour event. Travis Hall was low pro with a 75.

Bear sighting on tap

Jack Nicklaus will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s “The Tradition,” an annual celebration of Boston sports and athletes held at TD Garden. Nicklaus, winner of a record 18 professional golf major championships, will be recognized on Sept. 17, along with Patriots defensive lineman Vince Wilfork, former Bruin Derek Sanderson, former Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk, Doug Flutie, Needham Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman, and the Celtics ownership group. Tickets for the event are $300, and can be purchased by visiting www.sportsmuseum.org or calling 617-624-1237 . . . Nine former winners, including defending champion Jack Whelan of Myopia Hunt Club, headline the field for this year’s Francis Ouimet Memorial Tournament. The 46th annual tournament is a three-day, 54-hole amateur invitational tournament beginning on Wednesday, and will be held at Wollaston Golf Club, Wellesley Country Club, and Woodland Golf Club. The field of 105 will be cut to the low 40 and ties after 36 holes . . . Applications for three MGA events are due soon. The Massachusetts Senior Amateur deadline is Thursday at 5 p.m., with both the Father & Son Championship and the Mid-Amateur Championship due by 5 p.m. July 25. To enter any of the three, visit www.mgalinks.org.

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